Work Text:
It starts with a text.
Jimin has everything planned, gift bag waiting on the table, reservations made for that new restaurant they’d been wanting to try, and then Jungkook messages him bus broke down :( will be home late, I’m so sorry complete with six crying emojis, and Jimin thinks oh, no, it’s so cold out and they might not make the reservation, but he’s not all that worried. It’s a holiday, a special occasion to celebrate a relationship that’s important to him. Jimin’s backups have backups.
That’s okay, he sends back. Stay warm bb!!!! Fighting! See you at home! <3
Jungkook sends back one crying emoji and four hearts. Jimin smiles like a dweeb at his phone before getting back into business and calling Seokjin.
“Ah, Jimin-ah. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hyung, remember that favor I asked you about?”
He can hear Seokjin’s smile. “I’ll get it ready. Just let me know when you’re on your way.”
Jimin beams. “You’re the best.”
“I know,” answers Seokjin, and he hangs up the phone.
/
Jungkook gets home over half an hour late, shivering and damp from the freezing rain that had snuck under his coat and across his face, and Jimin is waiting with a towel fresh out of the dryer and open arms. Jungkook collapses into him gratefully, sniffling a little from the cold and burrowing toward the warmth. He's like an overgrown puppy, long hair flicking raindrops across the floor and Jimin's face.
"Cute," he coos, and Jungkook rolls his eyes.
"I don't think we're gonna make dinner," he says sadly.
Jimin smiles, thumbing across Jungkook's cheekbone. "Not the reservation, no. We still have plans, though! Do you wanna go shower and get changed and we can go?"
Jungkook lights up. "Wait, really?"
"Really, really. Go," he insists, sending Jungkook off with a smack to the butt. (Well, two. The first for fun, and the second because Jimin knows it's impossible to just smack Jungkook's ass one time. It's like eating a stick of pocky, or patting Yeontan on his tiny head. You have to do it a couple of times, just for the joy of it.)
Jungkook turns to go but pauses, spinning back to cup his hands against Jimin's cheeks and peck him sweetly on the lips. "You're the best," he says earnestly, all big dark eyes and small pretty smile, and Jimin flicks him on the forehead.
"Hey," protests Jungkook, but his pout isn't real, not really. Jimin wants to squish it between his fingers, but they don't have time.
"Go, Jungkook-ah," he says again, and this time Jungkook listens.
Jimin spends the time while Jungkook is in the shower freshening up, patting on some concealer and a petal-colored lipstain that Taehyung had gotten for him and dropped off this morning because soulmates have to celebrate Valentine’s Day, too. Jungkook had rolled his eyes at it, but acquiesced when Jimin just told him, rather haughtily, that he wouldn't understand.
He doesn't think Jungkook is going to be annoyed now, considering how kissable it makes him look.
He's considering grabbing his phone from the kitchen and snapping a couple of selcas before they go when he hears a dull thud from inside the bathroom. "Kook-ah? You okay?"
"Fine!" comes the strained reply.
Jimin frowns. "You sure? Did you fall?"
"A little! It's fine, I'm fine!"
A few moments pass, during which Jimin considers going in, just to check on him, when Jungkook's voice floats out again. "Uh, hyung?"
Hyung? Jimin mouths incredulously. His worry spikes. "Yeah, Kookie?"
"Don't freak out."
Ah, the thing everyone wants to hear when they’re worried. Jimin sighs and just opens the bathroom door, walking in to see the blurry outline of Jungkook's body behind the frosted glass shower door. He's sprawled on the floor awkwardly. "Baby?" he asks.
"I can't put any weight on my left ankle," admits Jungkook miserably. "I'm so sorry. I don't think it's broken."
"Can you move your foot?"
"Yeah."
"Aw, Jungkookie, it's just not your day, is it?"
A tiny sniffle. Jimin's heart breaks a little. "No."
"Do you need help getting up?"
"No," replies Jungkook, sounding stubborn, so Jimin busies himself with grabbing a towel off the rack and holding it open, so that when Jungkook manages to finally exit the shower, face hot, one foot hovering over the ground, he can fall right into Jimin's waiting arms.
They sway there for a moment, Jimin helping Jungkook dry off by sweeping a firm hand across his back and shoulders, and then Jungkook pulls away. His hair is still wet, flopping adorably over his forehead, and his eyelashes sparkle with water. Jimin suspects that some of that comes from the way he also looks like he's barely holding back tears, but Jimin won't mention that. Jungkook, despite how many times it's happened over the years—perks of living with your boyfriend, among other things—still hates crying in front of Jimin, and hides it however he can, even when he knows the most that will happen is that Jimin will cuddle him and gently mock him until he gets out of his own head. Silly, stubborn boy.
Jimin smoothes his thumbs over Jungkook's eyebrows and giggles when Jungkook hums and leans into the touch. "I think we might need to take you to the clinic," he says.
Jungkook frowns. "I'm fine, though. I'll just wrap my ankle and then we can go."
Jimin looks at him incredulously. "Can you even walk?"
"I can jump," insists Jungkook. "Or— we still have the crutches in our closet, right? From when you hurt your knee?"
"Jungkook-ah," says Jimin. He doesn't know if it's fair of him to use the same voice he does when he's sad and needs Jungkook to hug him very tightly, mostly because he knows it makes Jungkook fold faster than anything else, but he's also not going to let his boyfriend hobble over to Seokjin's and sit through a dinner while in pain. "I'm gonna drive you to the clinic. We can go to dinner afterwards."
"It's already late, though. You can drop me off, and you should eat."
"Jungkook."
"Jimin," replies Jungkook evenly. "Please, I feel bad enough already. Today was supposed to be—" he cuts himself off frustratedly, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I know you had plans."
Jimin laughs a little. "I don't care about my plans, baby. I care about you not overextending yourself for my sake and then being hurt for longer."
"I'm not running marathons at work, Jimin-ah."
Jimin helps Jungkook out to the bedroom and starts picking clothes for him. "No, I know, but you're energetic, bun—"
"I was gonna wear the blue one, the— yeah—"
"This one?"
"Yeah."
Jimin tugs out the navy button-up and helps Jungkook start to put it on. "Anyway, last week you did a somersault into the living room because you wanted to prove you were faster than me at it. I know you work at a desk, but I also know you hate it."
Jungkook has entered his sulking mode, or at least Jimin can assume that's the case when he doesn't hear a response. Whenever Jungkook is sulking, he hates hearing the truth.
Jimin finishes buttoning his cuffs for him, sliding his hands up Jungkook's forearms and making sure the fabric lays down nicely. "We'll do dinner after the clinic. Okay?"
Jungkook nods silently.
It reminds Jimin, a little, of their first fight. He'd been terrified when Jungkook shut down on him like this. He can't even fully remember what they were fighting about, but he does remember Jungkook shying from his touches, thinking Jimin was actually mocking him. "I'm smiling because you're cute," Jimin remembers telling him.
"I'm not cute," Jungkook had replied. "I'm upset."
"You can be both, though?"
Jungkook's frown had deepened, and Jimin had been terrified, for a moment, that he was about to be broken up with. But then Jungkook had scoffed, and the scoff had turned into a laugh, and he'd fixed Jimin with a gaze so sincere that it froze Jimin to the very spot. "You're unbelievable," he told Jimin, but with so much warmth, so much fondness. "How am I supposed to fight with you when you say things like that?"
Jimin thought to himself, privately, that they would likely have plenty to fight about, but so many of their fights ended in laughter that he eventually forgot to be afraid.
Now, Jimin isn't scared at all. He scritches the top of Jungkook's head and laughs when Jungkook leans into it without dropping his pout. "Let's go to the clinic."
"I need to put pants on," replies Jungkook morosely.
Jimin smacks a kiss to his cheek and grabs him a pair of jeans, reminding him to be gentle with his ankle. After that, they just take another five or so minutes to leave the apartment, Jimin finding his wallet on the kitchen counter and Jungkook deciding ultimately to forgo a shoe on his left foot. Jimin grabs a sandal for him, and then they're off.
/
"It's sprained," the doctor is saying, which isn't a surprise but also isn't what either of them really wanted to hear. "You'll need to stay off of it as much as you can while it heals, and ice it for 20 minutes at a time to bring down the swelling."
Jungkook looks like he might cry, and the doctor softens. "It's not severe," she tells him. "You'll be back to normal soon if you're careful with it."
"Thank you," Jungkook says quietly.
Jimin doesn't have any words to make it better, so he just pays close attention as the doctor shares the best way to wrap an ankle. He's the clumsy one in this relationship, so he already knows most of the information, but it helps settle him.
"Dinner?" he murmurs, when the doctor has left and Jungkook is getting up from the table, plasticky paper beneath him crinkling.
"Yeah," says Jungkook. "Yeah, I don't wanna be here anymore."
Jimin feels a pang in his chest. "Let's go, then," he says, because he can't say the other things he wants to, and Jungkook wouldn't want to hear them anyway.
Jimin could admit instead, maybe, that he's been keeping up closely with politics around gender equality and marriage in Korea. He could admit that he told Namjoon, ages ago, that he needs a ring, because the second he's allowed to he'll marry the fuck out of Jungkook.
(Jungkook, maybe, could admit the same thing. But Jimin doesn't know that.)
Instead of doing any of that, he wraps his fingers around Jungkook's wrist, wraps the other boy's arm around his neck, and half-carries him to the front to check out.
Jungkook grumbles, but he's leaning on Jimin a fair amount, so Jimin counts it as a win.
All things told, the visit to the clinic only takes an hour or so with transportation, luck on their side for once, and Jimin thinks that they really will be able to do this. That today can be as romantic as he hoped.
"Dinner now," says Jimin, bundling Jungkook into the car and tucking a blanket over him.
Jungkook scrunches his face up, enjoying the attention and pretending not to. "Thank god, I'm starving."
"Me too," agrees Jimin, and starts the car.
/
Seokjin's backyard is just as stunning as promised. The place drips in white and silver, table set up with a trio of candles in the middle, bathing the extravagant place settings in warm light. Fairy lights strung up along the edges of the patio cover lend to the whimsical feeling, and Jimin feels his own eyes go starry looking at it. The rain has abated by now, and all that's left is the rich scent of wet earth and a sheen across the stone steps that lead to the table, which sits in the middle of the yard beneath the cover.
"Wow," says Jimin.
Behind them, Seokjin giggles. "Are you going to sit down, or are you just going to stare at it?"
"Hyung," says Jungkook very seriously, "just say the word and I'll break up with Jimin for you."
"Yah!" protests Jimin.
Seokjin flicks Jungkook on the neck. "In your dreams, maybe. But I'm way out of your league, Jungkook-ah."
Jungkook pouts, but he hasn't let go of Jimin's hand, and the two of them slowly make their way to the table. "I'll bring the food out in a minute," says Seokjin.
As soon as he leaves, Jungkook leans dramatically across the table. "How did you get hyung to agree to this?"
Jimin snorts. "Well, I'm paying him, for one." It had been easy, honestly, and Jimin suspects he'd been given a bigger discount than he should've, but Seokjin was willing to move some things around to make it work should Jimin say the word. He'd also helped with the initial reservation at that restaurant, actually, and Jimin hopes their no-show doesn't get them blacklisted. He'd really wanted to try their wings, and Seokjin’s catering business shouldn’t have to suffer just because the Seoul bus system is a nightmare.
Jungkook is smiling as he continues looking around, head on a swivel. "This is so cool," he says, no hint of his earlier moodiness. "You really did this for me?"
"I'm not sure if you've heard, but I love you, Jeon Jungkook."
Jungkook's smile is so bright and bashful that his cheeks go pink. "Thank you," he says. "You're the best boyfriend in Seoul."
"Just in Seoul?"
"In all of Seoul's history."
"Better," preens Jimin. "Anyway, how was your day?" Jungkook levels him with a Look, so Jimin clarifies. "Before your bus was late, I mean."
Jungkook shrugs. "Fine. Work was slow, and Taehyung-hyung and I had a paper ball throwing competition in the break room. One of our clients started yelling at Jihyo, though, and then Eunbi got involved, and it was kind of a mess."
"Sounds stressful."
"Yeah, but it got solved pretty fast. People get passionate about their paperweights."
Jimin hums understandingly, not bothering to hide his laugh. "I'm sure they do," he says. "So what did Eunbi—"
He doesn't get to finish his thought, because Seokjin walks out just in time to see Jimin, gesturing without paying attention, ram his elbow against the candles in the middle of the table and upend all three of them at once.
The tablecloth, as Jimin honestly should've expected considering how this day has gone thus far, bursts into showy flames.
Seokjin shrieks from his position, hurries over, and douses the entire thing with the pitcher of sangria he'd been carrying out to them as part of the first course. The sugary drink contains alcohol, and the flames roar higher for a moment before spluttering, however miserably, out.
A horrible silence descends on the backyard.
"Oops," says Jimin.
Seokjin takes a deep breath. And then another, and another after that. He is obviously barely keeping his shit together. "I should clean this up."
At that, Jungkook and Jimin trip over each other to apologize and offer to help, but Seokjin just laughs a little and rubs a hand over his forehead. "I think you two should probably just shower and get home. You're covered in sangria, and also I think I'm about to murder you, Jimin-ah."
"Right," says Jimin quickly, standing up from the table. He rights the candles and winces. "I'll just— we'll wash up and go. I'm really sorry, hyung."
"Out of my sight before I strangle you," reminds Seokjin. He mostly sounds like he's joking, but Jimin isn't actually going to test that out.
Once they're inside, both shivering, clothes stained, Jungkook turns to Jimin with a greasy grin and asks, "Shower together in hyung's massive shower?"
"You're horrible. He's going to actually kill me."
If anything, that just makes Jungkook's grin widen. "But what if I fall again? It's for my own safety."
And, well, Jimin can't argue with that.
/
It's another forty minutes before they're home, both wearing borrowed clothes of Seokjin's. They did stick around to clean for about ten minutes, but realized they were helping less than they were being distractions, and Seokjin sent them off for real, offering condolences for their ruined evening and insisting that they leave so they could enjoy the rest of it.
By the time they get back to the apartment, it's late enough that Jimin just wants to wash his face, brush his teeth, and go to bed. So that's what they do.
They pull tired, silly faces at each other in the mirror, bumping elbows and trying not to drop their foamy toothbrushes, and Jimin tucks his free arm around Jungkook's waist when he sees the younger man starting to list to one side and forget that he can't put any weight on his hurt ankle. Brushing with his left hand is a pain, but worth it.
They're so domestic, he thinks. It's gross. Jimin was never like this before he met Jungkook, all soft and daydreamy about one person. But he can't feel anything but gratitude, even after this nightmarish day.
Jungkook says much the same once they're cozy in pajamas under the duvet. "Hey. Jimin-ssi."
"Yes, Jungkook-ssi?"
Jungkook giggles at the call and response, still fun after all these years. "I had fun today."
Jimin snorts. "Yeah? What part was the most fun? When you missed your bus, when you sprained your ankle, or when Seokjin-hyung poured sangria over you?"
"It's always fun with you," answers Jungkook.
They were kids when they met, Jimin thinks. Both ignorant, both trying too hard and not listening to each other. It's a miracle that they ended up here. And Jungkook's job is boring, and Jimin sold his soul to corporate a long time ago, and it's been years since they were those scared kids who almost didn't get their shit together at all. So much has changed.
But other things, thinks Jimin, taking in Jungkook's doe eyes, his heart on his sleeve, don't change at all.
"That’s because I’m the most fun, Jungkook-ah," he teases.
And Jungkook's ensuing laughter, like the sun after rain, like church bells, like bubbling champagne, makes Jimin feel greedy.
They've had all of these years together, and Jimin just wants more, and more, and more.